Sir Roy Gardner Joins Hills Board

William Hill  announced the appointment of Sir Roy Gardner as an independent Non-executive Director, with effect from 3 March 2014. He will serve as a member of the Audit and Risk, Remuneration, Nomination and Corporate Responsibility Committees, and will take over as Senior Independent Non-executive Director when David Edmonds retires from the Board at the 2014 Annual General Meeting.

Sir Roy Gardner has extensive corporate experience, first in executive roles in the utility, telecommunications and defense sectors and then latterly as a non-executive director on a wide range of companies. In his last executive role, he was Group Chief Executive of Centrica plc from 1997 to 2006 having taken the reins following its demerger from British Gas and was responsible for growing the UK-centric gas supplier into a major multi-national energy business.

After stepping down from Centrica in 2006, Sir Roy was appointed Chairman of Compass Group plc, the global food services and catering group, where he served until February 2014. He is currently Chairman of EnServe Group Ltd and of Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd, and a non-executive director of Willis Group Holdings plc. In addition, he has a number of interests outside the corporate sector as Visiting Fellow of Oxford University, Senior Adviser to Credit Suisse Group, Chairman of the Government’s Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network and Chairman of the Energy Futures Lab at Imperial College.

His other previous Board positions include: Senior Non-executive Director and then Chairman of Manchester United plc (2000-2005); and Non-executive Director of Laporte plc (1996-2001).

Welcoming Sir Roy to the Board, Chairman of William Hill, Gareth Davis said:

“I am delighted that Sir Roy has agreed to join the William Hill Board. He will add substantially to the Board with his wealth of experience and insight in terms of governance, risk management and strategy. His vast experience in multi-national operations across different sectors will also be invaluable as we look to develop William Hill further as an innovative, international and multi-channel gambling business.”

In accordance with obligations under Listing Rule 9.6.13R, Sir Roy holds or has held the following directorships of a publicly quoted company in the previous five years:

• Connaught plc: 10 May 2010 to 8 September 2010
• Compass Group plc: 1 October 2005 to 6 February 2014
• Willis Group Holdings plc: since 26 April 2006

There is no other information required to be disclosed under Listing Rule 9.6.13R. Sir Roy has an interest in 10,000 ordinary shares of William Hill PLC.